1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in an endosseous implant used in dental and orthopedic treatment.
2. Prior Art
Surgical techniques involving the use of an implant (screw implant, blade implant, pin implant, etc.) into bone tissue are extensively utilized in dental and orthopedic surgery as a result of the progress made in somatological engineering.
In prior art endosseous implant, the emphasis was on increasing the strength of the implant in the structure. For instance, the present inventors relied on structural considerations for the implant of the previous U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 550,186 wherein a nut was fitted over the head portion of a screw type implant (and, if necessary, the bottom portion of the implant passed through bone tissue). The device was screwed into the bone tissue and the screw-tightening force of the nut pressed the implant into contact with the bone tissue so as to cause the implant to resist the repeated external force to which the implant was then subjected.
It is an object of the present invention to obtain stabilized post-implantation strength from a binding force between the tissue of the living being and the implant. This binding force is a result of new bone and connective tissue of the living infiltrating deep into the implant surface. In this manner, proliferation and ossification of the bone and connective tissues in a net-like working arrangement is achieved. Another object of the invention, as will become apparent from the description that follows, is to regulate the amount of the incoming new bone and connective tissues by the selection of opening diameters of the micro-apertures located in the ceramic material and in a biodegradable material, and making either of the tissues larger in quantity than the other or making both of them uniform in quantity. In this manner the rigid bonding force inherent in the bone tissue and the elastic bonding force inherent in the connective tissue are brought into conformity with the state of the affected region in which the implant is to be set.